Checkup: Health news in brief

Published 2:51 pm, Friday, February 22, 2013

Probiotics and cholesterol levels

Probiotics, the live bacteria found in yogurt and other foods, are known to improve digestive health. But cholesterol levels?

Some believe that the beneficial bacteria bind to cholesterol in the small intestine, preventing it from being absorbed into the bloodstream. But research has been mixed, and the studies reporting positive findings tend to be the ones financed by makers of probiotic supplements.

In a randomized study published in November, for example, researchers at McGill University found that people with high cholesterol who took a probiotic saw their total cholesterol drop by 9 percent and their LDL, or "bad," cholesterol fall almost 12 percent. The study was financed by a probiotics company, Micropharma.

In a report in 2010, two researchers noted that while there was some evidence that probiotics might lower cholesterol, "controversial results" had surfaced. Among them were the findings of a British study that found no difference in cholesterol levels when the subjects took probiotics versus a placebo.

Two recent studies linking childhood television viewing to antisocial behavior and criminal acts as adults are prompting some pediatricians to call for a national boob-tube intervention.

A commentary published alongside the studies in the journal Pediatrics lamented the fact that most parents have failed to limit their children's television viewing to no more than one or two hours a day — a recommendation made by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

A study conducted by the University of Otago in New Zealand concluded that every extra hour of television watched by children on a weeknight increased by 30 percent the risk of having a criminal conviction by age 26.

In the University of Washington study, researchers found that children who watched pro-social and education programming, such as "Dora the Explorer" and "Sesame Street," rather than more violent fare, showed "significant improvements" in social competence testing scores after six months.

While it has long been clear that many adolescents drink alcohol, despite its illegality, experts have never been certain what they are drinking. Now a nationwide survey finds that the favorite alcoholic beverage of underage drinkers is beer, and their favorite beer is Budweiser.

Researchers surveyed a representative national sample of 1,031 boys and girls aged 13 to 20 of varying ethnicities and socioeconomic levels. All had consumed at least one alcoholic drink in the previous month. The results appear online in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Almost 70 percent had drunk either beer or hard liquor, and half had consumed a flavored alcoholic drink. Smirnoff vodkas were the No. 1 choice for hard liquor, followed by Jack Daniel's bourbons. Bud Light was the favorite beer, with Budweiser and Coors Light second and third.